83 results about "Free fall" patented technology

In an integrated free-fall detection device for a portable apparatus an acceleration sensor generates acceleration signals correlated to the components of the acceleration of the portable apparatus along three detection axes. A dedicated purely hardware circuit connected to the acceleration sensor generates a free-fall detection signal in a continuous way and in real-time. The free-fall detection signal has a first logic value in the event that the acceleration signals are simultaneously lower than a respective acceleration threshold, and is sent to a processor unit of the portable apparatus as an interrupt signal to activate appropriate actions of protection for the portable apparatus. Preferably, the acceleration sensor and the dedicated purely hardware circuit are integrated in a single chip and the acceleration sensor is made as a MEMS.

A system provided for protecting a disk drive from impact damages. More specifically, a disk drive is provided that includes an accelerometer interconnected to a printed circuit board that detects free fall of the disk drive. In addition, the velocity of spinning disks of the disk drive is also monitored to assess changes in velocity thereof that may indicate the presence of a tumbling condition. Furthermore, the change in acceleration measured by the accelerometer is monitored to prevent false indications of free fall due to common vibrations. Thus an enhanced system is provided that protects disk drives from the effect of free falls under a wide variety of conditions and allowing for drops from shorter distances to be identified.

An inertial sensor provided with a detection structure sensitive to a first, a second and a third component of acceleration along respective directions of detection, and generating respective electrical quantities as a function of said components of acceleration. The detection structure supplies at output a resultant electrical quantity obtained as combination of said electrical quantities, and correlated to the value of a resultant acceleration acting on the inertial sensor, given by a vector sum of the components of acceleration. In particular, the detection structure is of a microelectromechanical type, and comprises a mobile portion made of semiconductor material forming with a fixed portion a first, a second and a third detection capacitor, and an electrical-interconnection portion, connecting the detection capacitors in parallel; the resultant electrical quantity being the capacitance obtained from said connection in parallel.

A method is provided for identifying offsets of accelerometers integrated into hard disk drives. More specifically, often, disk drives employ accelerometers that constantly monitor the acceleration felt by the disk drive. Once the accelerations are less than a predetermined threshold, a free fall event is identified and an actuator arm that is generally positioned above the disk is placed in a safe location prior to impact. Accelerometers must be calibrated prior to use such that their inherent errors are identified and factored into the algorithm that identifies free fall. The method provided herein allows for the 0 g offset to be monitored without having to reorient the device being tested, thus saving time and money.

Embodiments of the present invention employ differential acceleration computations for detecting free fall conditions. The differential acceleration computations can be based on two-axis or three-axis acceleration measurements, and therefore can be implemented using a two-axis accelerometer or a three-axis accelerometer (or combinations of accelerometers that enable acceleration measurements in two or three axes). When a free fall condition is detected, an appropriate signal can be generated, for example, to place a HDD in a protected state before damage is likely to occur. Differential acceleration measurements can also be used to detect a “safe” condition following a free fall condition.

A method of determining the rate of flow of a flowable material, particulate or liquid, through a flowable material passageway, comprising causing the material passing through the passageway to move downwardly by gravity slowing the downward movement of material as compared to free falling gravitational movement measuring the weight of material passing slowly downwardly with respect to the passageway; causing an electronic signal to be generated in response to the magnitude of the weight measuring; and connecting the electronic signal to a read out display to reflect the flow rate of material with respect to units of weight with respect to units of time.

The invention belongs to the technical field of physical experiment devices, and provides a gravitational acceleration experiment device, comprising a box body, a pendulum tester and at least two free-fall testers are arranged in the box; the free-fall tester includes a transparent tube, at least Three photoelectric gates and a free fall timer, and a ring electromagnet is arranged on the top of the transparent tube; the pendulum experiment device includes a first pole, a second pole, a photoelectric counter and a pendulum timer, and the top of the first pole A cross bar is provided, a cycloid is arranged on the cross bar, a pendulum ball is provided at the lower end of the cycloid, and a pendulum ball fixing electromagnet for absorbing the pendulum ball that can move up and down is provided on the inner wall of the box. The gravitational acceleration experimental device provided by the present invention can carry out the experiment of free fall and single pendulum to measure the gravitational acceleration, and can also carry out the Foucault pendulum experiment at the same time, easy to operate, can accurately measure the gravitational acceleration, the experimental error is small, the accuracy is high, and the experimental process Intuitive and clear.

An inertial sensor provided with a detection structure sensitive to a first, a second and a third component of acceleration along respective directions of detection, and generating respective electrical quantities as a function of said components of acceleration. The detection structure supplies at output a resultant electrical quantity obtained as combination of said electrical quantities, and correlated to the value of a resultant acceleration acting on the inertial sensor, given by a vector sum of the components of acceleration. In particular, the detection structure is of a microelectromechanical type, and comprises a mobile portion made of semiconductor material forming with a fixed portion a first, a second and a third detection capacitor, and an electrical-interconnection portion, connecting the detection capacitors in parallel; the resultant electrical quantity being the capacitance obtained from said connection in parallel.

The invention discloses a falling weight impact testing machine which comprises a rack, a lifting mechanism, an impact counter weight and a load-bearing mechanism, wherein the lifting mechanism comprises a positioning pulley arranged above the load-bearing mechanism and connected with a cable between a cable disc and the impact counter weight, and a cable adjustment mechanism; the cable adjustment mechanism comprises an air cylinder and a movable pulley; the air cylinder is fixed on the rack; and the movable pulley is connected with a piston rod of the air cylinder, and is connected with the cable between the cable disc and the positioning pulley. The falling weight impact testing machine can achieve that a release rate of the cable can be greater than a free falling motion rate of the counter weight, so that a falling weight impact test can be performed without separating the impact counter weight from the cable; the manpower is saved; and the working efficiency is improved.

Disclosed herein is a free drop tester wherein an angle of a test piece can be freely adjusted, a weight can fall on the exact spot, and an impulse of the weight can be controlled, and provides a free drop tester comprising a vertical guide disposed perpendicularly to the ground, a support body for supporting the vertical guide against the floor, a weight of which falling path is guided by the vertical guide, a test piece holder disposed under the bottom surface of the vertical guide, a horizontal rotation shaft of which one end is connected to a test piece holder, a power transmission unit connected to the other end of the horizontal rotation shaft, a test piece angle adjuster including a driving unit for supplying power to the power transmission unit, and a means for adjusting the height of the weight.

A free fall simulator with a flight chamber, a fan system to generate airflow in the flight chamber, and a noise attenuation housing substantially enclosing the fan system.

A differential gradient of gravity is directly measured from the interferometric combination of two light beams which reflect from pairs of three freefalling test masses. Optical path lengths of two beam arms change relative to one another because of differential gradient of gravity effects the test masses differently simultaneous freefall. The relatively large background of gravity and the gradient of gravity are eliminated from the measurement while simultaneously achieving a high level of common mode rejection of other spurious influences.

A portable apparatus having an accelerometer device and a supporting element in the accelerometer device, having a first body of semiconductor material integrating a sensor element that detects movements of the first body and generates a signal correlated to the detected movement; a second body of semiconductor material that integrates a conditioning electronics and that is electrically connected to the first body; and conductive bumps that provide electrical connection of the first and second bodies to the supporting element. In particular, the conductive bumps connect the first and second bodies to the supporting element without the interposition of any packaging.

A free-fall detector device includes an inertial sensor, a detection circuit associated to the inertial sensor, and a signal source for supplying a read signal to the inertial sensor. The device moreover includes: a storage element, selectively connectable to the detection circuit for storing a feedback signal generated by the detection circuit in response to the read signal supplied to the inertial sensor; and a feedback circuit coupled to the storage element for supplying the feedback signal to the inertial sensor so that the detection circuit generates at least one detection signal in response to the feedback signal supplied to the inertial sensor.

Generally, a weight lifting free fall restraint system which includes a support frame providing at least one free fall restraint element which, when coupled to a weight bar, retractably pays out a tether element in response to movement of the weight bar and restrains retractable pay out of the tether element in response to free fall of the weight bar.

In a fall detection device, when a first composite vector value of a first acceleration component obtained from a three-axial acceleration sensor is greater than a rotating fall determining value, or smaller than a free fall determining value, a possibility of a fall is determined. When a second composite vector value of a second acceleration component obtained after a determining time interval is greater than the rotating fall determining value, and an angular difference of each testing surface is greater than an angular difference determining value, it is determined to be in the middle of a fall. Further, when a third composite vector value of a third acceleration component obtained one more time is smaller than the free fall determining value, it is determined to be in the middle of a fall.

In a method for detecting free fall, a first acceleration parallel to a first axis, a second acceleration parallel to a second axis perpendicular to the first axis, and a third acceleration parallel to a third axis perpendicular to the first axis and to the second axis are measured. A sum of a first value of the first acceleration, a second value of the second acceleration, and a third value of the third acceleration is calculated, and the free fall is detected as a function of the sum.

A free fall simulator includes a self-contained air circuit and a hover chamber in which persons can hover as a result of an air stream directed vertically upward. A lower opening is located at a lower end of the hover chamber and an upper opening is located at an upper end of the hover chamber. A substantially closed air guide channel includes at least one fan. The channel connects the lower opening and the upper opening of the hover chamber. At least one air inlet opening and at least one air outlet opening allow for exchanging air within the air guide channel. The simulator includes redirecting lamellae which redirect an air stream within the air guide channel in corner areas or areas of high curvature, wherein at least one air outlet opening is disposed within the redirecting lamellae.

A free fall simulator includes a self-contained air circuit and a hover chamber in which persons can hover as a result of an air stream directed vertically upward. A lower opening is located at a lower end of the hover chamber and an upper opening is located at an upper end of the hover chamber. A substantially closed air guide channel includes at least one fan. The channel connects the lower opening and the upper opening of the hover chamber. At least one air inlet opening and at least one air outlet opening allow for exchanging air within the air guide channel. The simulator includes redirecting lamellae which redirect an air stream within the air guide channel in corner areas or areas of high curvature, wherein at least one air outlet opening is disposed within the redirecting lamellae.

A free-fall detector device includes an inertial sensor, a detection circuit associated to the inertial sensor, and a signal source for supplying a read signal to the inertial sensor. The device moreover includes: a storage element, selectively connectable to the detection circuit for storing a feedback signal generated by the detection circuit in response to the read signal supplied to the inertial sensor; and a feedback circuit coupled to the storage element for supplying the feedback signal to the inertial sensor so that the detection circuit generates at least one detection signal in response to the feedback signal supplied to the inertial sensor.

An amusement ride and fall apparatus includes a track having a discharge point below which there is a substantial drop. A passenger is propelled along the track to the discharge point and discharged therefrom with a horizontal component of motion. The passenger then free falls. An elastic tie having a second first end and free second end connected directly or indirectly to the passenger limits the free fall and, together with the horizontal component of motion imparted to the passenger, causes the passenger to swing and bounce for a period of time at the end of the free fall. At the end of the ride and fall the passenger is released safely. The invention therefore provides a trill similar to that of a bungee jump but with enhancements.

An amusement ride and fall apparatus includes a track having a discharge point below which there is a substantial drop. A passenger is propelled along the track to the discharge point and discharged therefrom with a horizontal component of motion. The passenger then free falls. An elastic tie having a second first end and free second end connected directly or indirectly to the passenger limits the free fall and, together with the horizontal component of motion imparted to the passenger, causes the passenger to swing and bounce for a period of time at the end of the free fall. At the end of the ride and fall the passenger is released safely. The invention therefore provides a trill similar to that of a bungee jump but with enhancements.

The invention relates to a method for obtaining high-precision gravity acceleration of earth background fields, which comprises the following steps of: step 1, synchronously recording the vibration speed information of a reference prism and the interference fringe signal containing falling body time displacement information in the falling body free falling process in an absolute gravimeter; step 2, extracting the time displacement coordinates on a falling body falling track, i.e. the reconstruction point of the falling body free falling track; step 3, using a cluster of parallel straight lines with the same gradient for being crossed with the reference prism speed and time coordinate curve to obtain the time points corresponding to the crossed intersection points; step 4, selecting the reconstruction points corresponding to the time points obtained in the step 2 on the falling body time displacement coordinate curve; and step 5, calculating the gravity acceleration according to the reconstruction points selected in the step 4. The method of the invention has the advantages that the influence on the ground vibration can be effectively eliminated, the huge vibration isolation system is avoided through an integral measurement structure, and the method support is provided for the miniaturization and the flowing measurement of the absolute gravimeter.

The invention discloses a one-dimensional spherical granular chain nonlinear solitary wave detection sensor, which can realize the stable excitation and detection of nonlinear solitary waves and is used for the nondestructive detection of materials or structures. Shock particles are controlled by an electromagnetic valve to shock a one-dimensional spherical granular chain from a fixed height in a free falling body manner to form nonlinear solitary waves propagating along the one-dimensional spherical granular chain, when the nonlinear solitary waves are propagated to observation particles, a displacement of the solitary waves can be sensed by a piezoelectric material embedded in the observation particles, can be outputted in a voltage form and is called incidence solitary waves; when the nonlinear solitary waves propagated to an interface of the particles on the tail end of the one-dimensional spherical granular chain and the material or structure to be detected, reflection is generated, the nonlinear solitary waves re-enter the one-dimensional spherical granular chain, the nonlinear solitary waves can be re-sensed by the piezoelectric material in the observation particles in the propagation process, and an output voltage signal is called reflection solitary waves. By utilizing a flying time difference or an amplitude ratio between the reflection solitary waves and the incidence solitary waves, nondestructive evaluation can be performed for the rigidity or damage of the material or structure to be detected.